


Painting with a Cupcake

by hallow777



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: 7 Days of Carmilla, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-13
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-14 22:25:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7193306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hallow777/pseuds/hallow777
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carmilla is a painter stuck in a job that has nothing to do with Painting.</p><p>Laura is the instructor for a local "all skill levels welcome" painting class.</p><p>
  <i> “Oh come on, why not?” Lafontaine whined as they crossed their arms and stared at their friend who was spread haphazardly across their couch.</i>
</p><p> </p><p>  <i>Carmilla huffed, “why would I- someone who already knows how to paint and is trying to make a living out of it- want to go to a beginner painting class with you?” </i></p><p> </p><p>Written for the 7 Days of Carmilla challenge on tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Leaf Blowers

**Author's Note:**

> Crap, I meant to post this before I went to work but forgot to so I couldn't post it until now but here is Monday's entry for the 7 Days of Carmilla challenge.

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Pretty please?”

“No.”

“Oh come on, why not?” Lafontaine whined as they crossed their arms and stared at their friend who was spread haphazardly across their couch.

Carmilla huffed, “why would I- someone who already knows how to paint and is trying to make a living out of it- want to go to a beginner painting class with you?”

"Because you love me?"

Carmilla just stared blankly at them until they tried again.

“Because Perry’s birthday is coming up and I want to do something special so I was thinking of giving her the painting I make in this class since the painting they are teaching is a fall themed one. You know how much Perry loves when the leaves change colors. I really don't want to go alone plus, ‘trying’ really is the key word there. You aren’t exactly making the big bucks or bucks at all really.”

“Just for that, you can put on your big person pants and suck it up.”

Lafontaine was silent for so long that Carmilla thought that maybe they had actually given up on this stupid idea, but then Lafontaine started talking again.

“Well, I guess I could always have you show me how to paint something similar and we could use all your good paint and all those pretty white canvases you’ve got and-”

“Ugh, fine. You win. Let’s go to the stupid class.” Carmilla was already pushing herself up off the couch so she could put her shoes on. There was no way she was letting the person who regularly made things spontaneously combust anywhere near her very precious and not to mention expensive paint supplies.

Besides, Carmilla Karnstein having the time and patience to teach someone how to paint?

Hell would freeze over first.

* * *

“‘Painting with a Cupcake’ really? No, I can’t. I can’t do this. Look at the sign, it’s done entirely in pastels. No, this is too ridiculous, Laf. I can’t.” Carmilla stopped in her tracks only a few feet away from the car as she noticed the sign on the building but Lafontaine was not taking no for an answer and started physically pushing Carmilla towards the building.

“You’ll be fine. Lighter colors aren’t going to kill you or ruin your badass image. Besides, it’s called that because apparently you get free cupcakes while you paint. It’s free food. How can you pass up free food?”

A lot of grumbling and feet dragging later, the pair finally entered the building and were checked in by an extremely tall red-head that Carmilla immediately dubbed Xena and an equally tall guy who seemed to follow Xena around like a Puppy so that’s what he was going to be called.

Lafontaine tried to point out that they were both wearing nametags and that was most definitely not their names but Carmilla didn’t care. She had to have something to entertain herself for the next two extremely long and boring hours of this class that she knew she was going to be way over qualified for.

Once they were checked in, they were both handed bright colored aprons and told to find a seat anywhere there was an easel and canvas already set up. Lafontaine immediately headed towards the front of the room to have the best seats but there was no way Carmilla was going to sit up there so she drug Lafontaine to the very back corner of the room, far away from the little stage that was set up for the instructor.

“Do we really have to sit all the way back here? I want to be closer so I can see all the details.”

“You have eyes like a hawk, you’ll be fine. If you want to go sit up front, go ahead. I’ll just see myself to the door then and head home.”

Lafontaine frowned and pointed out, “I drove us here and I have the keys.”

“I’ll walk.”

“Why are we friends again?”

Carmilla shook her head and tried to hide a small smile, “I ask myself that every day.”

“Jerk,” Lafontaine muttered before they started rearranging the brushes and easel to their liking. Carmilla on the other hand didn’t bother rearranging anything but she did take great pleasure in watching Xena and Puppy run around frantically, trying to get the sudden rush of people checked in and seated.

She was so busy laughing at them that she almost missed a very short girl smoothly weaving in and out of the people, giving them all plates with paint on them.

Almost.

It was honestly impressive that the girl managed not to get trampled by the two bumbling giants but she managed it and was now making her way to the back where they were sitting with two plates of paint in her hand.

“You two don’t have to sit all the way back here, you know? You could get closer and join the rest of the group, if you want,” the girl said as she placed the plates down on the table in front of them.

Before Lafontaine even had a chance to say anything, Carmilla jumped in, “We’re fine where we are, sweetheart. We’d be even better if you wanted to stay back here and join me-”

She didn’t even get to finish before the girl’s attention was drawn back to the giants that were calling her over to them. She gave Carmilla an apologetic look before rushing back over to the giants and Carmilla’s once sultry look turned into a deep scowl, much to Lafontaine’s amusement.

Her scowl somehow got even deeper when the ginger giant stepped up onto the stage, “Welcome everyone to ‘Painting with a Cupcake’. Has everyone had a chance to grab a cupcake before we get started? They will be available all throughout the class but now is your last chance before we really get going.”

Carmilla took a rather vicious bite out of her cupcake as she realized that while she was distracted by the giant on stage, the girl with the paint had disappeared.

“So I take it we are all good to go then? Okay, well, let’s get started. First of all, my name is Danny and I’ll be around helping you guys out a little bit but I’m not the one with the artistic talent, at least not when it comes to painting. I’m just the one who makes the cupcakes-” Carmilla promptly spit hers out. “-and helps out a bit. The one with the talent for painting and the one who will be your instructor today is our very own, Laura Hollis.”

The small girl from earlier made her way onto the stage and started introducing herself and explained what they were going to be working on today. Lafontaine was fully paying attention to the girl but Carmilla was just staring at her until something occurred to her.

“Heh, I guess it really is ‘Painting with a Cupcake’. A walking, talking, very fine looking cupcake.”

Carmilla hadn’t really been expecting a reply to that but she got one anyway in the form of a sharp elbow jab to her side plus a glare from Lafontaine.

After some choice words mumbled under her breath, Carmilla focused back on the girl on stage who was instructing them on how to do a background. It didn’t take long at all for her to zone out again and not hear anything that the girl was saying, she was too focused on just watching the girl as she moved around the room helping people when they needed it. Something about her was just fascinating.  
.  
Another sharp jab to her side and a hiss of “paint!” made Carmilla realized that while everyone was done with their backgrounds and were about to start on trees, her canvas was still completely blank and Laura was heading their way again.

“How’s it going back here, anyone need any help?”

Lafontaine was quick to jump in to divert Laura’s attention away from Carmilla so she wouldn’t see the background Carmilla was just now starting on.

“Could you take a look at mine, really quick? I want to give it to my girlfriend for her birthday this weekend so I really don’t want to mess it up.”

“Of course.” Laura moved around the table to get closer to Lafontaine’s painting which put her where she had no chance of seeing Carmilla’s painting. “Looks perfect but if I were you, I’d blend the colors with a little bit of white some more near the top here so that later on when we put the leaves in they stand out more.”

“Oh cool, thanks!”

“No problem. Are you good over there in the corner?”

Carmilla looked away from her painting and smirked at Laura who took that as a yes and headed back towards the front to continue with the lesson.

Ten minutes later, Carmilla realized she really had a serious listening problem when it came to this girl because she had stopped painting again and had instead been staring at the smaller girl.

Again.

“-so we will have a tree and then leaves blowing in the wind, falling down to the ground if you want to add those. If not, no one is going to judge you for just stopping at the tree. If you want, you could even add a little pile of leaves already on the ground or add whatever you want.”

Whatever she wanted, huh? Maybe she could have a little fun with this class after all.

With that, Carmilla actually set to work on her painting, adding way more details than what everyone else was doing but she had to make an impression on the girl some way, right?

The last hour of the class passed quickly with Laura checking on them and Carmilla making sure that she didn’t see her painting until the class was finished.

“See? That wasn’t so bad, was it? I think mine turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. What about yours?” Lafontaine turned their painting around while everyone else was gathering up their stuff so Carmilla could get a good look at it and she had to admit, it wasn’t half bad.

“It wasn’t too bad. After I started doing my own thing.” Carmilla admitted and Lafontaine looked at her warily.

“Oh god, what did you do?”

With an admittedly evil smirk, Carmilla turned her canvas around to show Lafontaine who just stared at it for a second, “is that me? At the bottom?”

“Yup.”

Lafontaine starting laughing so hard tears came to their eyes because of course their friend couldn’t just do something normal.

No, she had to make a whole elaborate scene depicting herself with a giant leaf blower blowing off all the leaves off the tree they were originally supposed to paint onto a tiny Lafontaine who was drowning in a pile of leaves.

“Well… That’s certainly creative,” Laura said as she wandered over to their table after hearing the laughter.

“Thanks.” Carmilla stood up and took off her apron before turning to Lafontaine, “Come on, Nerd. There’s a perfect place on the wall in the living room for this masterpiece.

As they got ready to head out the door, Carmilla caught Laura’s eye.

“See you around, Cupcake.”

Then they were gone, leaving Laura standing there confused.

“...Cupcake?”


	2. Sci-fi Adventure

“Why exactly am I here again?” Carmilla grumbled as she got out of the car in front of the Painting with a Cupcake building.

“Because Lafontaine had such a good idea about making a painting for my birthday that I want to do the same for theirs. I just couldn’t see myself going alone but if you really don’t want to do this, you can pick me up after the class is over.”

“Ugh no, it’s fine. You might be nice enough not to force me to do this again but I’ll never hear the end of it from Laf if I bailed and left you here alone.”

“Thank you,” Perry smiled widely at Carmilla who shrugged and headed inside. She may have only gotten to know Perry because of Lafontaine but the woman had grown on her in the years they had known each other.

Plus, there was a small part of her that was just slightly looking forward to this, or rather, looking forward to seeing a certain cupcake again.

What she wasn’t looking forward too though was dealing with the giants again. There was just something about the tall woman that irritated her but she wasn’t able to put her finger on it just yet.

With no hesitation, Carmilla greeted them as she and Perry approached the check in counter, “Xena. Puppy dog.”

Kirsch didn’t bother looking up and Danny just looked confused for a second then narrowed her eyes, “ah, Ms. Dark and Broody back again for another class? It didn’t look like you had the greatest time last time. I think you might be a little too advanced to really enjoy this class.”

“And how would you know that?”

“Laura said your painting was really good. Weird but high quality.”

Carmilla smirked at that. “Did she now?”

“Ahem-” Perry stepped forward and interrupted. “-Carmilla has been here before, but I haven’t. Could you tell me a little bit about this place?”

Danny happily turned her attention to Perry and started explaining about stuff that Carmilla either already knew or didn’t care about so she side stepped over and tried to get Kirsch’s attention but he barely looked up from the game he was playing on his phone.

“Just a second, I’ve almost passed my high score.”

“I’m not exactly a patient person.”

A brief jerk of his head indicated the row of aprons behind him. “Help yourself then.”

“Excellent.”

Carmilla walked around the corner of the counter that Kirsch was behind and grabbed a dark red apron, because there was no way she was getting stuck with a bright orange one like she did last time, and nabbed a few different brushes while she was back there too.

Each place at the table was already set up with an easel, canvas, and a few brushes but she felt she was going to need a few more if she was going to make something nice to show off to Laura.

Perry was just now getting her apron on so Carmilla started making her way back to the corner where she and Lafontaine had sat before. Lafontaine may have protested but when it came to sitting by herself, she knew that Perry would end up coming to sit by her.

This time, people seemed to arrive at a more steady rate rather than all at once like they did the last time she was here so she didn’t get to enjoy watching the giants run around trying to take care of everyone but it didn’t matter because she was too busy watching for Laura who she hadn’t managed to catch even a glimpse of yet.

Once everyone was seated and it was Kirsch who was handing out the plates of paint, Carmilla started to worry.

What if Laura wasn’t the one who did this all the time? It would make sense for a place that this popular to have more than one instructor, right?

She really should have thought this through some more. These next two hours were going to be horrible.

“Carmilla? Are you alright? You look like you are sulking.” Perry gently laid a hand on Carmilla’s shoulder to get her to look at her.

“I’m fine. Just regretting my choices in life.”

The redhead’s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion but before she could say anything else, Danny stepped up onto the little stage and started her normal introduction which thankfully included introducing Laura as the instructor.

The woman in question came rushing out of the back room, her hair a mess and her apron on crooked. It didn’t take her long to get started and for Carmilla to zone out once again.

There was just something about her that kept her from being able to take her eyes off of her. She was a very captivating instructor, not that she was teaching anything that Carmilla didn’t already know though.

It’s no surprise that this place is as popular as it is, with the way Laura taught things. Carmilla refused to be on the receiving end of any paint related teachings but she had seen the way Laura worked with Lafontaine and with the others that needed her help.

Before she knew it, everyone else was almost done with their backgrounds and Laura was making her rounds to check on everybody and was heading their way.

“You know, I think you are just about the only one who ever insists on sitting all the way back here. I remember you but-” Laura turned so she was looking more at Perry, “-you are not the person who was with her before.”

“No, that was my partner, Lafontaine. They worked really hard on that painting and were so excited to give it to me for my birthday that I thought maybe I could do the same for them. I’m not really sure if I’ve done the background right though.”

“That’s really sweet of you. Your background looks fine to me. It might be a little more precise than the example one I’m doing, if that makes sense? Mine is blended haphazardly but yours is very precise and all going in one direction, that’s not a bad thing though as long as you are happy with it.”

Perry smiled and nodded as she went back to putting the last few touches on her background so Laura turned back to Carmilla.

“Do you need any help on yours?”

Carmilla glanced at her completely white canvas that Laura couldn’t see then back at Laura with a smirk, “Nope, I’m good. You’ll just have to wait until the class is over to see my ‘weird but high quality’ masterpiece.”

A deep blush spread across Laura’s face, “I’m- I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything bad by it. I just-”

“Relax, cutie. It’s okay. I’ll take it as a compliment. Now as much as I enjoy talking to you and would love to keep you back here to myself, baldy over there on the right looks like he’s going to stab through the canvas if he pushes any harder on that poor brush.”

Both Laura and Carmilla flinched as the man’s paintbrush pretty much scraped across the canvas.

“Oh, you’re right. I better go take care of that.”

As Laura was walking away, a faint mutter of “never telling Danny anything ever again” could be heard.

* * *

“-you can do a really simple ship like the one I’m going to show you or you can add some more details to it if you want. Maybe even some little green aliens or whatever color you want them to be. The theme we are going for here is just a little bit of sci-fi adventure, I suppose.”

She’d been staring again. Of course she had. And her canvas was still white.  
It was probably about time she actually did something and she finally had an idea. She wasn’t sure how Laura would take it but she was going to do it anyway.

Laura tried to see if she needed help a few more times but once she got busy working on it, she was too focused to really notice or care and just waved her away. Even with the few extra brushes she took from behind the counter, she was still pretty limited on supplies but she saw it as just another challenge.

Luckily enough, by the time Perry was gently nudging her telling her that the class was over, she was just finishing up the last few touches.

“So this was your first time in, right? Did you have fun?” Laura asked Perry as she wandered over to the back after most everyone else had left.

“I did. This was a lot funner than I thought it would be and now I have a great present for Lafontaine’s birthday. They usually like more science stuff than space really but I’m sure they will still think that it’s cool. That is, if Carmilla ever finishes hers so we can go home,” the last part was directed at Carmilla who was just adding one more thing then she finally sat her brush down.

“Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I’m done.”

“Can I see?” Laura asked as Carmilla stood up and started taking her apron off without turning around the painting so that she and Perry could see.

“Well,” she drawled out, “I suppose so.”

When she turned the canvas around Laura just stared at it for a full minute, “Is that me?”

“Yup.”

“I’m not really sure if that fits the sci-fi theme.”

“Of course it does. It’s me, being your knight in shining armor riding on a horse to save you from some horrible fate. In space. See? We all have space helmets on.”

Carmilla was grinning at Laura who was biting back a smile.

“Well, it is cute. Why me though?”

“That’s a good question. Something about you just catches my eye.”

“Ahem, sorry to interrupt but we really should be getting back. It’s almost time for me to make dinner,” Perry spoke up hesitantly and both women started, having forgotten she was there for the moment.

“Alright, let’s go. God forbid Laf wait an extra ten minutes for food. See ya around, cupcake.”

And then they were gone leaving Laura even more confused than the last time Carmilla was there but one thing was for sure. She definitely wasn’t going to tell Danny about this painting.

At least now she knew the mysterious girl’s name.


	3. Snack Time

“What the frilly hell are you two doing out here this early in the morning? Some people are trying to sleep. Namely, me. So if you could kindly shut the hell up…” Carmilla grumbled as she stumbled sleepily out of her room to see why her usually quiet roommates were making so much noise.

“Uh, sorry. We will be out of here in a minute. We have a painting class to go to but I wanted to bring a little experiment to add to the paint there but it started foaming everywhere before we got out the door so now Perry is in insane clean up mode. Go back to bed. Hopefully we will be out the door soon.”

Carmilla started nodding and was about to turn around to head back into her room when something sunk in, “painting class?”

“Yeah, both Perry and I had a lot of fun so we decided to go again. But together this time so you don’t have to go.” With sigh, Lafontaine walked over to Perry to get her attention, “if you scrub anymore we aren’t going to have any tile left on the floor and we are going to be late for painting.”

“Yes, yes. I know. Just, there is one more spot here.”

  
Holding back a groan, Lafontaine turned back to where Carmilla was but she was no longer there so Lafontaine gave up and decided to sit on the couch until Perry deemed the floor clean enough to leave.

It only took a few more minutes before Perry was taking off her gloves and was ready to go, just as a fully dressed and ready to go Carmilla came out of her room.

Immediately, Lafontaine was up and had a hand on Carmilla’s forehead, “what’s wrong with you? You are awake and look like you are ready to go somewhere.”

“Why is that so strange?”

“It’s not even eleven am yet. You are practically a vampire. We never see you before like three in the afternoon. Ever. You must be sick.”

Carmilla swatted Lafontaine’s hand away and headed to the front door, holding it open and gesturing for Perry to head outside, “I just thought that I’d go with you guys.”

Perry headed to the car without a word but Lafontaine just squinted their eyes at their friend.

“I’ve known you for a long time, Karnstein, what are you up to?”

“Nothing that concerns you. Now move it. We are going to be late.”

* * *

During the entire ride to the Painting with a Cupcake building, Carmilla was forced to listen to her two friends talk about the painting they were going to do. Apparently, the theme for this painting is “snack time” so they were debating on how many people would paint cupcakes since that was the first thing you think of when you think of snacks there.

Carmilla really wished she had brought something so she could drown them out but their talk did give her an idea of what to do.

She was going to need a few extra supplies though.

As soon as the car stopped, Carmilla was heading inside and up to the counter where, as usual, the giants were standing.

Danny tried to tell her that she needed to check in but she knew Lafontaine and Perry were following behind and they would check her in so she instead went over to Kirsch.

And then went directly around Kirsch to the paint supplies and aprons.

“Uh, impatient hottie? You aren’t really supposed to be back here,” Kirsch hesitantly said but he showed no intention of actually doing anything about it so she went on her way, collecting an even darker red apron this time along with even more brushes and more colors of paint.

“Hey, you can’t do that.” Kirsch may not have been too concerned with stopping her but Danny was. Before Carmilla could retort with a no doubt very snarky reply, Laura came out of the back room.

“It’s okay, Danny, people can always ask for other colors of paints if they want.”

“She didn’t ask though. She just snuck back here and started taking it.”

“I’m not sure that it qualifies as ‘sneaking’ when this idiot here watched me walk back here and didn’t stop me,” Carmilla said gesturing to Kirsch.

“Kirsch!”

His hands flew up into the air to protect himself as Danny practically hissed at him, “what? She scares me. She’s got this whole dark, scary vibe going on.”

“You are useless.”

“Okay, okay guys. Break it up. We have a class to teach,” Laura said, taking Danny’s arm and turning her back towards the check in counter.

Carmilla took this chance to slip away and head to her usual spot, ignoring the twinge in her chest at the familiar way Laura touched Danny.

By the time she got settled in behind her easel with her extra paint supplies, Lafontaine and Perry were doing the same and Laura had caught her eye again.

Or rather, Danny’s hand on Laura’s shoulder caught her eye.

She hadn’t really noticed it before, but they seemed to be pretty close. No wonder she didn’t like the giant.

But for now, she would put her jealousy behind her because she had the perfect idea to show off for Laura.

* * *

First the girl comes in and gets extra paint colors then she sits in the corner and doesn't show anyone what she's working on and refuses all help. Why did she even come this time?

Carmilla was certainly one of the most interesting people Laura had had come in in the few years she had been doing this. She had to admit, she was looking forward to seeing whatever Carmilla made this time but the girl had ignored her ever since she had sat down. She was so focused on whatever she was painting that she wasn’t even paying attention to her friends that had come in with her.

Laura made sure not to neglect any one else but she also made sure to swing by the back table often to see if she could catch a glimpse of what Carmilla was working on but it never worked, she was always situated in the corner just right. She had to be doing it on purpose.

But it didn’t matter. Laura prided herself on being a patient person. She could wait.

And wait she did.

The full two hours were over, everyone was packing up their stuff and heading out except for Carmilla who was still hard at work in the corner.

“Come on, Karnstein. Class is over. They are going to kick us out. Let’s go.” Laura could hear the one she assumed was Lafontaine saying to Carmilla but Carmilla just hummed and continued working.

“Sorry, I’m trying to get her out of here,” they said apologetically as Laura made her way to the back.

“Oh, it’s okay. We have an hour break before the next class so as long as she's done by then, it’s fine.”

“Thanks. She gets really into this sometimes.”

“Is everything okay?” Danny walked up to the table, looking between Carmilla and the rest who were just standing around the table.

“It’s fine, she’s just finishing up. We have time until the next class anyway.”

Danny didn’t seem too sure about it but didn’t question it, “if you say so. Kirsch and I are going to go get lunch. Do you want to come with us or want us to bring anything back?”

“Nah, it’s okay. I brought lunch, thanks though. Go enjoy lunch.”

A few minutes later, Danny and Kirsch were arguing about where to eat on their way out the door and Carmilla still wasn’t done so Laura set about cleaning up and setting up for the next class but it wasn’t long before Perry came up to her.

“Is there anything I can do to help while we are waiting?”

“Um, you don’t really have to.”

Lafontaine piped up from where they were sitting down at the table again, “cleaning up is kinda her thing. She really wouldn’t mind.”

Perry was just smiling gently at her so Laura shrugged, “well if you just want to. We need to dump out the dirty paint water and clean the brushes then move the easels off so we can change the paper on the tables if they are really dirty. If they just have a few specks of paint, it’s okay though.”

Perry set to work cleaning out the brushes and dumping water and it wasn’t long before Lafontaine got bored sitting there and decided to help out too. In no time, the tables were changed and everything was set back up for the next class and Carmilla still wasn’t done.

The next class was reserved for a small group party so not all the tables needed to be recovered so once everything was done, Laura grabbed a box of cupcakes and hopped up onto a table that was in front of Carmilla to enjoy her snack.

Lafontaine gladly joined her on the table but it took a little more convincing before Perry joined them as well but before too long they were all enjoying snack time with way more cupcakes than anyone should ever eat in one go.

In between mouthfulls of cupcake, Laura learned that all three of them worked at the university across town because Carmilla’s mother was the dean there. Lafontaine worked as a lab assistant for one of the professors while Perry and Carmilla both worked in the offices at the university. She also learned that while Perry loved her job, Carmilla wasn’t quite as fond of all the paperwork she had to do but she had the later shift so it worked with her weird sleeping schedule.

Laura ended up telling them all about how she had always enjoyed painting as a hobby but had majored in journalism instead at a university a couple cities over. Her father was the CEO of a rather large company so once she was out of college she ended up working there for a while but during a company merger, Hol Industries ended up owning the building they were sitting in now. A lot of things happened and the store that used to be there closed down and with the help of her friends from college, they convinced her father to let her use the building to teach art once she got the proper qualifications.

It’s definitely been more successful than he ever imagined it would be. He was even considering moving them to a bigger building even though they didn’t usually run out of room in the classes but with a bigger place with two rooms, they could have two different classes going on at the same time. But that required hiring another instructor and they just hadn’t found the right person yet.

“Did you guys seriously eat all those cupcakes?” Carmilla finally put her brush down and looked over at their table just as Laura was finishing up her story.

Laura looked down at the empty box that was situated between the three of them, “oops. Sorry, did you want some? I’m sure there is some more in the back.”

Before Carmilla could reply, Lafontaine jumped in. “We wouldn’t have eaten all of them if you hadn’t taken forever to finish your painting.”

“Hush. You can’t rush perfection.”

“Perfection, huh? Thinking pretty highly of you skills there, aren’t you Karnstein?”

“Just for that, you don’t get to see it. I’ll meet you guys out in the car.”

Lafontaine was going to protest but Perry didn’t want the two of them to get started on one of their arguments so she just gently lead Lafontaine out of the building after saying goodbye to Laura.

“So do I get to see it? I mean you totally don’t have to show me if you don’t want to, I’m just curious what you were so focused on.”

Carmilla was in the middle of pulling her apron off but once it was thrown on the table she turned her canvas around so Laura could see with a smirk on her face.

“Oh wow. Okay, I can see why it took so long now. How in the world did you do that?”

“That” happened to be a very detailed and very accurate portrait of Laura’s face.

Carmilla shrugged, “I have a pretty good memory.” and she’d spent the last two classes basically staring at her but she definitely wasn’t going to admit that.

“That’s… That’s really good. Mildly creepy thinking that you are going to take home a giant picture of my face but impressive.”

“Why don’t you keep it then? It can be a gift.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t,” Laura said but she kept looking at all the details on the canvas.

“No really. Keep it. Like you said, it’d be weird for me to take it home. You keep it.”

There was a tiny bit of hesitation. “Are you sure?”

“Definitely.”

“Then thank you. This is really, really good.”

“Thanks. Well, I better get out of here before they decide to take off without me. See you next time.”

Carmilla headed towards the door but before she could make it out the door, Laura spoke up.

“Hey wait, this doesn’t really have anything to do with today’s theme though. I mean you don’t really have to stick with the themes for these classes but that is kinda the point in doing them.”

“Oh but it does. After all, I made a portrait of a cupcake.”


	4. Time Travel/Doctor Who

Twas the morning before a typical Friday, when all through the house not a creature was stirring except Lafontaine because Perry was at work and Carmilla was asleep.

Carmilla was nestled all snug in her bed, while visions of cupcakes danced through her head.

That is, until she was rudely awakened by someone flopping onto her bed.

“Huh-wha? What the fuck are you doing, nerd?”

“Perry is at work so I just thought I’d see if you wanted to go somewhere with me.”

A pillow immediately smacked Lafontaine in the face, nearly knocking them off the bed.

“Of course I don’t. It’s way too early to do anything.”

“How do you know what time it is? You don’t even own a clock other than your phone and you haven’t looked at it yet.”

“I can just feel it so please leave before I am forced to do something drastic and I really don’t want to have to hear about it from your other half.”

“Okay, I’m going,” Lafontaine said as they slid off the bed and got to their feet, “I’ll see you when I get back from painting in a couple hours.”

Lafontaine made it to the door but waited just a few seconds to see what would happen.

“Painting? Fine, okay. I’ll go. Just get out of here and give me a minute so I can get dressed.”

“I’ll be in the car.”

They practically ran to the car and pulled out their phone as they slid into the driver’s seat.

They didn’t even give Perry a chance to say hello before they started in.

“I’m pretty sure the world is ending. She wants to go to the early painting class again. Also, you owe me ten dollars for winning the bet.”

* * *

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

By now, they had arrived at the Painting with a Cupcake building and Carmilla was glad to get out of the car, hoping to get away from this conversation but she wasn’t having any such luck.

“Okay if you won’t tell me what you painted last time we were here, will you at least tell me what you did with it? You certainly didn’t bring it home.”

“Will you shut up if I do? God, you’ve talked about nothing else the whole way here.”

“Sure.”

With a groan, knowing she was going to regret this, Carmilla admitted that she gave it to Laura.

“Oh so you are interested in her. But dude, really? You gave an art instructor a painting? I think even you can be a little more original than that.”

“I thought you were going to shut up about it?”

At Carmilla’s glare, Lafontaine mimed zipping their mouth shut as they followed her into the building but it didn’t take long for Lafontaine to give in.

“Uh…”

Carmilla whirled around quickly, “I swear to God, if you say one more word about this, especially here, I will-”

“You mean one more word about the painting of Laura’s face you did?” Lafontaine cut her off, eyes never leaving a spot on the wall near the counter.

“How did you…? Oh.”

There it was. The painting she did before. Proudly displayed on the wall above the counter.

“You are going to be lucky if she doesn’t get a restraining order against you. You had only seen her all of what, two times before painting that? I’m not going to lie, kinda creepy, Karnstein.”

* * *

This time, Carmilla didn’t really have an idea of what she was going to paint for Laura, she didn’t even know what the theme was so after a brief argument with Kirsch about why he better rethink handing her the bright pink apron he was trying to get her to wear, she settled in her corner clothed in her normal dark red apron.

Because of traffic, they had gotten there right on time instead of a little early like they normally did so it wasn’t long before Laura was up on stage starting the lesson. Apparently they were doing a painting of a melting clock and it was honestly really cool, so much that Carmilla thought she might almost follow along with the class for once.

But then Laura went off topic and started talking about how she really likes doing this one because it reminds her of Doctor Who, in a way, and it gave Carmilla an idea.

She started poking Lafontaine in the side until they finally got mad enough to hiss at her, “what?”

“Doctor Who, that’s that show you forced me to watch with you once, right?”

Lafontaine looked at their friend hesitantly, “yeah, why?”

“All I remember is that giant blue box, is that an important thing?”

“Clearly I have failed you in your TV show education, but yes. That’s the TARDIS. It’s kinda important.”

Carmilla hummed a thanks and then pulled out her phone but tried to keep it under the table so Laura didn’t think she was being rude. Now that she knew what it was called, It didn’t take her long to look up a picture of it.

She was going to need some more colors though.

She tried to discreetly slip out of her seat and while most of the class didn’t seem to notice or care what she was doing, she did catch Laura’s eye but the girl just looked at her confused until Carmilla mouthed the word “paint” at her and pointed towards the counter where Kirsch looked like he was asleep leaning on it.

Laura didn’t make any move to stop her and the ginger giant was nowhere around so Carmilla went around the counter and helped herself to the colors and brushes she would need for this project of hers.

* * *

Class was over and Laura had only been over a couple times to check on Lafontaine which Carmilla was almost sad about but she got the feeling that Laura was figuring out that she wasn’t exactly in a talking mood when she was focused on something so it was okay.

Carmilla was so busy looking back and forth from her phone to the painting to make sure she got the details of this thing right that she didn’t notice Lafontaine leaning over to get a look at what she was doing.

“Holy shit, Karnstein painting a fandom related painting. I thought I’d never see the day. You’ve fallen hard for this girl, haven’t you?”

Laura was making her way over to them after seeing everyone else out so the only reply Lafontaine got to that was a streak of blue paint directly across their forehead as Carmilla whacked them with her brush.

“Argh, I hate you sometimes.”

Laura watched with a raised eyebrow as Lafontaine rushed off to the bathroom to wash off the paint.

“Um, I hope you don’t mind that I displayed your painting here. I can totally take it down if you want but it's just so good! I was going to hang it up at home but I didn’t really want to stare at my own face, I do that enough in the mirror already.”

“It’s fine, cupcake. It’s yours to do what you want with.”

Carmilla was still working on the painting so silence fell between them for all of two minutes before Laura spoke up again.

“So… What are you working on this time? I saw you had to go get some different colors so I highly doubt it’s a clock.”

“Well, if you can be patient for just a little longer, I’ll show you but it's not done yet.”

“I’ll try.”

In order to keep herself distracted and not think too much about what Carmilla was working on, Laura went about stripping the tables and setting up for the next class. Just as she was getting started on it, Lafontaine came out of the bathroom and ended up helping her while they waited for Carmilla to finish.

Thankfully this time, they didn’t have to wait that long.

Once she sat her brush down, she locked eyes with Lafontaine and in a silent eye conversation that was only capable between two people who had known each other for a very long time, she convinced Lafontaine to head out to the car and wait for her.

“I’ll see you next time, Laura. This is a lot of fun. I think even Miss Grump here likes them too even though she's way over qualified for this-” Lafontaine caught Carmilla’s eye again and she was giving them a deathly glare, “-well, gotta go. Bye!”

They were out the door before Laura could even open her mouth to say goodbye so she just turned to Carmilla instead.

“So can I see it now?”

Carmilla smirked at her, “patience isn’t really your strong suit, is it?”

“Not really. Please?”

“Well, since you asked so nicely.”

Carmilla turned the canvas around and Laura let out a gasp so loud that Kirsch’s head shot up off the counter where he had previously been drooling in his sleep.

“Oh my god! It’s so pretty!”

This time she had made a very detailed TARDIS surrounded by a very pretty, if she did say so herself, galaxy background. A lot of colors went into it and she was honestly pretty proud of it.

“Thanks.”

Laura turned her wide hopeful eyes on Carmilla, “you watch Doctor Who?”

“Uh, occasionally.” Because having watched maybe the entirety of one episode two years ago because her and Lafontaine had gotten drunk and she couldn’t be bothered to move to her room when Lafontaine used that to their advantage and made her watch it counted as “occasionally” right?

“Carm, this is amazing!” Carmilla’s heart swelled at the nickname that slipped out but she tried to keep her cool.

“Glad you like it since I made it for you.”

Another gasp, “really?”

“Yup. It’s yours.”

“This is absolutely going on my bedroom wall. I have the perfect spot for it. Oh my god, thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome. I should probably get going now before Laf decides to- Oof.”

And suddenly Laura was hugging her.

Actually hugging her.

Laura was touching her.

She was pretty sure her brain was short circuiting because before she could really process what was happening, Laura stepped back with a blush across her cheeks.

“Thank you again. Really. This is really neat. I mean, I can paint things and teach others but you really have an eye for details and for colors.”

“Thanks, you’re really good too. You may not have a lot of patience when it comes to something you want but you are really good and patient with the people you teach. You do a really good job.”

“Thanks. It’s actually funner than you would think, teaching that is. So um, are you sure I can have this?”

“Laura, please. Take it. Stop worrying about it.”

“Okay, okay. I will. So, I’ll see you again soon?”

“Absolutely.”

A few minutes later, Laura was still standing there looking at the painting when she realized something.

“She actually called me Laura.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly don't know why it started off all "Twas the night before Christmas", it just happened.  
> The prompt for this day was Time Travel but I immediately jumped to Doctor Who so...


	5. Game Night

Everything was quiet in the administrative building of Silas University.

Well, nearly everything.

“I swear to god, if you beep at me one more time telling me you have a paper jam, I’m going to push you down all three flights of stairs and I will enjoy every thump and crash you make,” Carmilla yelled with her hands on her hips, staring down the copier that had been giving her trouble for the last hour.

Finally, the machine sucked up the paper and started printing the copies she needed.

It was about halfway through and she had just sat down when it started beeping again. This time about low ink.

“That’s it. Out you go. We are long overdue for a new one anyway.”

With one solid yank, she unplugged the machine and wheeled it out into the hallway where she was stopped by a very distressed looking JP.

“Where on earth could you be taking that machine to?”

“I’m taking it to it’s demise. Just pretend you didn’t see anything.” Carmilla started pushing the machine again but then stopped and turned back to the man, “wait, what are you still doing here and why are you so frazzled, anyway?”

“Well, you see, I was asked to stay and help oversee the ‘game night’ party that your mother decided to set up for the students in the gym but I’m afraid it’s gotten a little out of hand.”

“It’s a college party. What did you think was going to happen?”

“No, no. Not quite like that. It’s something that your mother set up to try and ‘foster more creativity in these electronically dependant students’. She had a local painting business come in and host some art games for the students to participate in but I’m afraid they are a little in over their heads.”

No, it couldn’t be.

“What local business?”

“Um, I do believe it was something like ‘Painting with a Cake’?”

“Painting with a Cupcake?”

“Yes, that could be it.”

Carmilla took one last look at the copy machine, “you’ve escaped your demise for now. Alright, Jeeps, lead the way to the gym.”

“Oh thank you, thank you. The students won’t listen to me, but maybe they will listen to you.”

“Oh believe me, they’ll listen.”

* * *

 

Inside the gym was chaos, paint was everywhere and everyone was yelling and running around.

It was a mess and Laura really had no idea how it got this bad. Everyone was more or less following directions to start with and she thought everyone was having a good time but then suddenly paint was flying and it just dissolved into a mess. She was currently hiding behind a turned over table on the little stage that they set up to avoid the paint.

She just didn’t know what to do. She’d tried reasoning with people but they just wouldn’t listen. Kirsch and Danny were still out there, not afraid to get in the middle of the chaos, trying to get people to listen but it wasn’t working.

What were they going to do?

And to top it all off, she had kinda been hoping to see Carmilla here. After all, it was Carmilla’s mother, the dean, who had hired them to do this and according to what Lafontaine had said before, Carmilla still worked here but she hadn’t seen her at all.

Maybe she should have thought this through a little more before jumping on the job offer.

Laura had just gathered up her courage and was about to jump out behind the table and make another try at taming the chaos when a loud screech came from the doorway, effectively catching everyone's attention.

It was Carmilla with the biggest megaphone she’d ever seen in her life.

“Good. Now that I have everyone’s attention. Keep your mouths shut and clean up this place. Party’s over.”

A rather drunk freshman off to the side shouted back, “why should we listen to you?”

He was promptly tackled to the ground by some students that had been there longer but Carmilla just smirked.

“Good question. How about because I’m the Dean’s daughter and I will personally make everyone’s campus life a living hell if you don’t clean this place up in an orderly fashion. I can make your grades plummet. I can make sure you get stuck with all the shitty teachers.”

Everyone started grumbling but slowly started moving around, picking things up and wiping off the thankfully washable paint.

“Did you know Silas offers classes that start at five am? I can switch every single one of you to a mandatory five am class.”

Suddenly there was chaos again but now it was a chaos of cleaning and straightening up.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! I don’t know what I would have done without you, no one would listen to me.”

Suddenly Laura was there and she was hugging her again.

But once again, it was over too quickly.

“I guess you really are my knight in shining armor. Or shiny megaphone, at least.”

Carmilla took a bow, “at your service.”

Unfortunately the two didn’t get a chance to talk much more because the students were almost done cleaning up the paint and Carmilla had to direct them where everything went while Laura was busy with Danny and Kirsch getting their supplies packed up.

It was already getting pretty late by the time it was all over with so Laura left with only a wave goodbye to Carmilla across the gym but it was enough to keep a smile on Carmilla’s face throughout the rest of her shift.

She was in such a good mood that she even forgave the copier.

For now.


	6. Tourist Trap

Deciding to get an apartment with Lafontaine and Perry after college really did turn out to be a good idea for all three of them. Lafontaine and Perry had already decided to move in together but having Carmilla there too helped a lot in the beginning when they were all struggling financially.

Perry had gotten her secretary job right out of college but Lafontaine didn’t get their job until more recently. Until then they had hopped from minimum wage job to minimum wage job like a typical person right out of college. Carmilla on the other hand had been stubborn and was just sure she could make a living with her art skills and did end up doing a few freelance jobs until she finally gave in and accepted help from her mother who pulled some strings and got her on at Silas with Perry.

Not only did it work out financially, but it also worked out because they tended to stay out of each other’s way. Carmilla left them alone for the most part and they left her alone most of the time. It also helped that their sleeping schedules were so different.

Carmilla also tended to stay in her room a lot, not that Lafontaine and Perry weren’t welcoming or anything, it was just that after having share a dorm with Lafontaine during college, she was glad for the peace and quiet of her own room.

Except for right not it wasn’t as quiet as it normally was.

Carmilla was just waking up but could feel and hear something shifting around next to her but it took a few minutes for her to really give up and open her eyes to see what it was.

When she did, she was looking straight at Laura’s face.

With a yelp, Carmilla flung herself backwards, causing Lafontaine and the paper they had been holding to fall off the bed in a fit of laughter.

“What in the world is going on here?” Perry rushed into the room to see Lafontaine on the floor laughing while Carmilla was still sitting on her bed in shock.

Eventually Lafontaine stopped laughing enough to explain that they were just showing Carmilla an article in the paper, about the Painting with a Cupcake place.

“Doesn’t explain why you had to shove it in my face.”

“I just thought you might like something nice to wake up to and what’s better than waking up to your crush’s face in the morning?” Lafontaine started out talking to Carmilla but then turned and was looking at Perry with a dopey expression on their face as they said the last part.

“Ugh gag. You two are too grossly in love for this early in the morning. Get a room.”

“Technically, we are in a room,” Lafontaine pointed out while Perry was already walking out the door. She’d learned a long time ago when to walk away from those two so she didn’t get in the middle of it.

“Get out of my room!”

Carmilla’s favorite bat pillow thudded against the back of the door as Lafontaine just narrowly dodged it and shut the door behind them.

* * *

 

A little while later, Carmilla dragged herself into the kitchen for a bowl of cereal then headed into the living room to eat it.

Instead of taking the recliner like she normally did, Carmilla plopped down in the middle of the couch, right between her two roommates.

“Uh, rude much?”

“Oh you’ll get over it. So what was the Cupcake in the paper for, anyway?”

“Apparently they got a feature in the paper. There was this article about the hidden gems of our city and they made the top of the list. It’s pretty cool.”

Lafontaine grabbed the paper off the side table then Carmilla grabbed it from them and started looking it over. Sure enough, they made number one and there was a decent sized picture of Laura, the one Lafontaine so rudely shoved in her face earlier.

“We should go back there again soon.”

“You are such a smitten kitten, Karnstein. It’s honestly painful to watch. Why don’t you just ask her out already?”

“I don’t want to hear that from you. I’ve met this girl like five times over the course of a couple months whereas you and Perry here have known each other for practically your whole lives and it still took you until your third year at Silas to confess.”

“Still doesn’t answer my question.”

Without saying another word, Carmilla got up off the couch to put away her cereal bowl and to get dressed for work.

She didn’t really have an answer to that yet.

* * *

 

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the place this packed, are we even going to be able to find a parking space?” Lafontaine hunched over the wheel of the car, looking around through the very full parking lot before finally eyeing one empty space near the back.

“Are they having a special class or something?” Perry asked but Carmilla shook her head.

“Not that I know of, there wasn’t anything on their site when I looked at the class times for today. Oh, you know what? It’s probably that article in the paper. This place probably just became our own little version of a tourist trap. Except it's probably just all local people who didn’t know it existed.”

“Probably so. I bet you won’t get your prime corner seat though with this many people. Are you sure you want to do it? We are already a little late anyway from trying to find a spot to park.”

Lafontaine pulled into the parking space anyway, already knowing what Carmilla’s answer would be.

“Yeah, how bad could it be?”

* * *

 

It was bad.

It was almost like the college party all over again just with less drunk college kids and less paint being flung around but there were so many people, every spot was full but Laura was trying her best and it looked like they were actually listening to her. It was just that there were so many people she couldn’t get to them all.

They had just gotten started but people were already needing help and somehow people were already needing more paint or wanting different paint and the giants were already running around helping people as much as they could.

“I don’t think there is actually any space for us. Maybe we should go and try again later?” Perry put a hand on Carmilla’s arm to get her attention.

“You’re right about the space but I think they might appreciate some help, what do you think?”

Perry and Lafontaine looked at each other then looked back at Carmilla, “sure sounds like fun.”

* * *

 

Despite being so busy with everyone, Laura managed to catch Carmilla’s eye soon after they had decided to help and gave her a big smile but she was quickly distracted by someone who needed help.

Carmilla took Lafontaine and Perry around the back of the room and over behind the counter where all the stuff was kept. They all got an apron and she showed them where the paint was then they headed back into the sea of tables and easels.

The painting they were doing today was a kind of fantasy tree with very pretty leaves. Not overly hard but people seemed to be having trouble with it so even though Carmilla just started out handing out paint, it didn’t take long before she was stopping people because they were doing it very, very wrong.

The first time she stopped someone she was going to make sure Laura came over there next to help the person but Laura was on the other side of the room so after just a few minutes of waiting, Carmilla groaned and set about showing the person how to do it correctly.

It amazed her how, uh interesting, some of these paintings were turning out to be. Each person is unique and they all have their own twists and ways of doing things but there were just some people who were trying to do exactly what Laura showed them in the example but they were going about it the wrong way so Carmilla took it upon herself to help them.

She started regretting it after the second one but then she caught Laura smiling so brightly and giving her the thumbs up after Laura caught her helping someone that she ended up continuing on.

And then she continued helping, and continued helping.

And suddenly the class was over and people were filing out the door.

As soon as the door shut behind the last person, Lafontaine and Perry pulled out chairs and sat down heavily and rested while Danny and Kirsch just collapsed on the floor where they stood, enjoying the cool tile floor after working up a sweat running around like crazy for the last two hours.

Carmilla tried to be casual and not look like she was just as tired as the rest of them so she just leaned against a table.

“Thank you guys so much for helping. I feel like I’ve said that every time I’ve seen you lately but really, thank you. Please, have a seat and rest. We all worked hard,” Laura said as she came out of the back room with water bottles and two boxes of cupcakes.

She dropped one box and two water bottles by Danny and Kirsch who didn’t seem to want to move from the floor anytime soon and then sat down at the table where Lafontaine and Perry were so of course Carmilla had to join them.

“Bet you didn’t think it was going to be this busy after that article, did you?” Carmilla asked.

“Nope. I didn’t think many people would read it but I guess they did. This was just our first class of the day. We are going to be dead by the end of the day if all the classes are like this.”

Carmilla didn’t even hesitate, “we could stay and help, if you want?”

“Really?”

Lafontaine groaned then was immediately kicked by both Carmilla- because she wanted to help out Laura- and by Perry- because it was impolite of them to groan.

“Arrgh- I mean, we would love to help.”

“If you are sure, I wouldn’t want to keep you guys from anything but we could really, really use the help.”

“It’s fine, cupcake. Saturdays are actually the day we always all get off work so we are free all day.”

“Thank you. And I’m really sorry but we kinda need to start setting up for the next class.”

This time, everyone groaned.

* * *

 

That night, Carmilla went to bed extremely exhausted but with a smile on her face because after everything was done, Laura hugged her goodbye and this time she got to hug her back.

Carmilla also came to a decision that night. She was going to ask Laura out. Soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow is the last chapter of this, thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoy it.
> 
> Tomorrow's chapter may not be out until much later in the day because I won't be home most of the day until late but it will be up.
> 
> EDIT: so things are busier than expected today so in order not to rush things, it's going to be maybe Monday night or Tuesday before the last chapter comes out.


	7. Wait, What?

For the next week, Carmilla, Lafontaine, and Perry all helped Laura out when they weren’t at work themselves which meant that Carmilla helped out the most since she normally didn’t work until the evening whereas Lafontaine and Perry usually worked during the day.

By the time Carmilla usually got to work she was exhausted but knowing that she was helping out Laura was worth it all.

She had really fallen hard for this girl.

Thankfully, there really wasn’t that much to do at Silas in the evenings, just catch up on any paperwork that didn’t get done earlier in the day and answer the occasional phone call. Really she was just there in case something came up so that her mother didn’t have to come in in the evenings unless it was a real emergency.

Carmilla knew full well that until she had given in and asked her mother if there was any work for her around Silas, this evening position hadn’t even existed but she appreciated it and it paid the bills so she couldn’t complain. Perry had everything covered during the day time but it had helped the redhead relax a little bit and not worry too much about getting everything done immediately, knowing that Carmilla would finish it up that evening.

And it really worked out with this whole Laura thing too because there was no way she would have been able to help out as much as she had this past week without this kind of job and now that the crowds were not quite as excited about painting as they were before and Laura didn’t really need her help, she was really going to miss helping out.

Tomorrow was the last day she could really get away with helping them out since it wasn’t really that busy anymore so she had to do it tomorrow.

She was going to ask Laura out.

* * *

 

As soon as Carmilla walked into the door that morning, she could tell something was off but it took her most of the day to figure out what it was.

Danny was glaring at her more than usual though Kirsch seemed happier than usual so that was definitely strange but what really made things odd was that Laura almost seemed to be avoiding her, but not really.

The shorter girl was just as friendly as usual but seemed even more awkward than normal, more easily flustered and tried not to talk to Carmilla too long.

Carmilla was starting to wonder if she had done something wrong but she couldn’t think of anything she had done lately that would have bothered the girl other than her usual snark and sass but that was just part of the package deal. She couldn’t exactly stop doing that, especially when it irritated Danny to no end.

With only half an hour left until Carmilla would need to leave so she could go to her actual job, she decided she was going to have to do it now or never.

She was going to ask her.

As soon as she finished setting up the tables for the next class and gathered up her courage to spit out the words. She really needed to do it soon though before her nerves got to her and she ended up overthinking it.

“Hey, can I talk to you?” Laura said shyly as she walked up to the table, thoroughly startling Carmilla.

“Uh, sure.”

“I-uh. I wanted to ask you something…” Laura started but trailed off looking down at her feet where she was shifting her weight back and forth between them nervously.

And was that a blush on her cheeks?

Carmilla was both panicking and relieved at the same time. Was Laura going to ask her out instead? She was, wasn’t she? That would explain all the nervousness from earlier today.

This was making Carmilla nervous though because she had really expected to get turned down.

Laura was friendly enough but she didn’t really know if the girl felt anything other than friendship between them and now that there was a chance that she did, it made it all very real.

Like this was something that could actually happen.

Which meant there was a very real possibility that Carmilla was going to find a way to screw things up.

She hadn’t really thought this through, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to try and ask Laura out so soon but she didn’t have a choice anymore because it seemed like Laura was going to beat her too it.

“So I was wondering..”

Carmilla was mentally trying to figure out ways to gently let the girl down, she wanted this and she really liked the girl but she didn’t trust herself not to screw this up and she really, really didn’t want to do that to Laura. It’s not like she would intentionally mess things up for them it’s just that she didn’t really have the best luck when it came to relationships and oh god why did she even think this was a good idea.

She should have never come back after that first class.

“Listen, cupcake, I-”

“Will you please, please come work for me as another instructor?” Laura finished before Carmilla could really interrupt her.

Wait. What?

Carmilla opened her mouth but no words came out so Laura rushed to give an explanation.

“Okay, I know this totally seems out of the blue for you but we really have been wanting another instructor for a long time now and after this whole thing with the article in the paper and getting so much attention my dad wants us to move to a bigger building downtown, closer to the university so we can hold more classes but to do that we need at least one more instructor and after seeing you work this week I think you would be perfect. So, what do you say?”

Laura was looking up at her with the biggest puppy dog eyes Carmilla had ever seen.

This girl was going to be the death of her, she just knew it.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Laura questioned.

“I’ll work with you.”

“Yes!!!” Laura took off yelling through the building, informing Danny and Kirsch of her answer. Danny’s mood darkened even more which made Carmilla grin even though it immediately fell.

What in the world had she gotten herself into.

Not only did she not end up asking Laura out, she just doomed herself into teaching a bunch of people with little to no talent how to paint.

Lafontaine was going to love this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, okay so things got a little hectic around here so not only did I miss the last day of the challenge (sunday) it has taken me until now to actually get any writing done but here it is.
> 
> This is the last chapter but should I get the urge and the time, there will most likely be another story to continue off of here. I really would like to work on some of my other stories and finish them first though so it may be some time but there is a lot more I'd like to explore in this AU. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it!


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